Backbencher

North & South is a general interest magazine. Anyone who walks past it could pick it up and read it, since there is a wide range of information in it to read. This magazine really has it all. I have the January 2008 issue of it, and the main things in this issue are 12 extraordinary New Zealanders and lots of tips for the summer. Since this issue is the beginning of a new year, they have the top 12 extraordinary people in New Zealand. This in a way reminds me of how People magazine does the top sexiest males or something like that. It also reminds me of when Time magazine does one of their top people of the year or the world. North & South had the categories of, Art & Entertainment, IT & Communication, Science, Community, Sports, Environment, Everyday Heroes, Business, Education, and Young Achiever. They, of course, have the TOP New Zealander of the Year and that title went to Philip Bagshaw. Philip is a surgeon who was able to raise money to get new equipment for the hospital that he works in. Philip pretty much operates on anyone who really needs it. He doesn't like seeing people who need surgery suffer, so he does the surgery for them. His hospital is a charitable hospital. When I turned to see who was the Top New Zealander of the Year in Sports, I was kind of assuming that it would be a person who plays footie or something. It turned out to be Mahe Drysdale and he is a sculler, which in our terms is a rower. Mahe is practicing for the Olympics this year in Beijing. His time in the 2000m is the time to beat the games. The other big thing in this issue was the Best of Summer section. In it they wrote about songs that sum up the summer, survival tips for campgrounds, they gave recipes for drinks and other things. They gave the best beach escapes, forgotten summer fashion, and other fun stuff like that. Reading this was kind of hard, since they have nice weather there and everyone here has spring fever. I really enjoyed looking at and reading this magazine. It seems to me like it would be one of the top sellers for magazines in New Zealand. The articles are all interesting and fun to read. I think that anyone in the society would read this, it touches everyone